Amazon.com was incorporated in 1994 in Seattle, Washington. A year later on July 1995, Jeffrey Bezos, the company’s founder and chief executive officer opened the online retailer for business.
Former Hedge Fund Analyst as Amazon.com Founder
Jeffrey Bezos is a former employee who worked at D. E. Shaw and Company, a hedge fund firm. While at D. E. Shaw and Company, Jeffrey worked as a financial analyst. According to a March 28, 2008 New York Times article written by Brad Stone, as he set his sights beyond the hedge fund industry, Jeffrey Bezos and his wife sat down and created a business plan to create an online bookstore. That store became Amazon.com.
Initially Amazon.com sold fiction and nonfiction books. Mainstream book publishers like Simon & Schuster, Random House, Harper Collins and Just Us Books can open accounts with the online retailer and sell a broad genre of titles authored by authors under contract to them.
Through their Advantage Program, small publishers and self-published authors can open individual accounts with Amazon.com and sell their books directly to Internet customers. Amazon.com receives a small percentage of the total sales on each book. Authors like Denise Turney, author of Long Walk Up; Tika, author of Zuri and Friends and Tannia Ortiz-Lopes, author of Window To My Soul: My Walk With Jesus, can open an account with Amazon.com through the Advantage Program and track orders received, shipped and payments made.
Discount Books at Amazon.com
Many books and products listed at Amazon.com can be purchased at a discount. Authors and publishers can have excerpts from their books scanned so that customers can read the opening pages to their book. Kindle is the latest offering from Amazon.com. The handheld equipment allows book lovers to read manuscripts with the scroll of a button. The international wireless device can receive book downloads in less than a minute so that customers can begin to enjoy their favorite title absent lengthy delays.
Movies, music, games, computers, clothes, toys and automotive tools are other products that Amazon.com started to sell. The online retailer also sells groceries liked boxed cereal, powdered drinks, popcorn, pretzels and macaroni and cheese. Customers can write up product reviews to express their opinion on a book, grocery item, music composition or other item so that future shoppers will be aware of favorite products by genre. Although books are still sold at Amazon.com, time will tell if literature will begin to take a rear seat to the company’s many other product offerings.
Growing Amazon.com Success and Product Line
Corporate accounts with the online firm are available for schools, libraries and businesses. Corporations and educational institutions can set up accounts to buy books and other products using approved purchase orders. They can also access online reports that detail the status of their account.
The Associates program was an early popular feature of the company. By adding a link to the retailer at their personal or business website, associates could earn a percentage of total book sales generated for Amazon.com directly through their website.
Warehouses that stock books and other products sold through the Internet retailer are located around the world. Headquartered in Beacon Hill, Seattle, May 1997 the company started to sell its stock publicly on the New York Stock Exchange. The firm realized a profit in 2002. By 2007 they were the number one retailer on the Internet. In 2008 Amazon.com generated over $19 billion in sales.
Sources:
Amazon.com Official Website. 1 November 2009.
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